The Birmingham Post from Birmingham, West Midlands, England • 1

MONDAY August 23 1999 COUNTY EDITION THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER FOR THE MIDLANDS Number 43599 37p Mr WX 1 wrsm Ms Jackson in the catalogue mL Nasser's England crushed I ASPECTS PAGE 12 SPORT PAGES 17 25 PAGE 7 terror in £lm hijack The new me: The revamped Melanie gives her new rock persona an airing at V99 at Weston Park yesterday Sporty under siege as music festival turns sour BORIS WORRALL The Birmingham Post Spice Girl Mel was jeered and pelted with plastic buttles at the Y99 music festival at Weston Park in Staffordshire as the number of crimes reported at the site approached 100 But while Sporty Spice dodged missiles during only her second solo performance former band member Geri Halliwell was basking in success after hitting the top of the charts with her new single Mel unveiled her radical new rock-influenced direction to a barrage of bottles and boos although others in the crowd cheered She performed an energetic cover of the Sex Pistols Anarchy In the I A and plainly enjoy ing herself made a defiant gesture to revellers who had bombarded the stage Halliwell yesterday returned to the giddy heights she frequently reached as Ginger Spice by scoring her first solo Number One with Mi Chico Latino Police yesterday claimed V99 passed off "peacefully but it was marred by a spree of crimes including the abduction of a 27-year-old man who was then robbed The man told police he got a lift outside the event on Saturday and was driven to a cashpoint and lh-r robbed suffering a broken nose in the process Police later stopped the suspect vehicle on the M6 in Birmingham but one of three alleged kidnappers jumped a road barrier and fell 5(ft down an embankment breaking his leg He is now recovering in hospital and Cannock police are interviewing the other two people a man and woman from the Manchester area Police are also inv estigating an allegation of indecent assault at the site on Saturday night By late yesterday afternoon there had been a total of 12 arrests and 89 reported crimes The offences were mainly thefts from tents and car crime But Chief Insp Keith Walker of Staffordshire Police said: "I am extremely satisfied with the running of the operation It has passed peacefully and people have been very well behaved" There were 60 acts over the two-day festival including top bands such as the Manic Street Preachers and Suede along with veteran soul singer James Brown ReportsPages 3 10 ly DEBORAH LUCK The Birmingham Post A terrified lorn dmer was hijacked at gunpoint on the M6 in a £1 million computer raid before being freed in Warwickshire An armed gang held the driver captive for more than six hours and took Inin on a terror ride after flagging him down on the motorway Police reealed yesterday how the 4 1 -y ear-old dm er as tricked into stopping before he was threatened with a handgun The victim had stopped on the hard shoulder betw een Junctions 19 and 20 near knutsford Cheshire on the northbound carriageway belieung the pursuing car a grey hatchback contained officials wanting to check his vehicle He climbed from his cab only to be threatened at gunpopM and bundled into a rear fo well ofthe gang's car A coat wa put oer his head while a robber took charge of the lorry at 3pm on Saturday The two vehicles then left the motorway and shortly afterwards stopped in a country lane where the dmer was bundled into the boot of the grey car The man was finally dumped in darkness in the country vide on the B4I00 near Gay don arwickshire at 920pm Police hae since found the lorry a blue and white Scania articulated ehicle which had l)J Dutiable on the side in orange abandoned at a sen ice station in the Thames Valley area The lorry was known to hae been at the aterstocks ser ices on the N140 since 9pm on Saturday but it as not disco ered to be tne hijacked vehicle until yesterday morning The dmer had alerted police when he was freed and he was driven back to Wilmslow in Cheshire where he gae detectives a statement esterday Last night Del Insp Chris Howarth of Congleton ID said the driver had collected the computers from Heathrow Airport and was taking them to Scotland where the haulage firm is based and here he li es hen the gang struck It is not know if the lorry as followed from London or picked up on the way by the gang "The driver was uninjured phy sically but this is obviously a horrendous thing to happen to any one" said Det Insp Howarth "In his words he says he was terrified although he was not phy sically assaulted He has given us a statement and has coped ell are appealing for itnesses but we know that grey hatchbacks are very common although the lorry is quite distinctive was not officially found until 1045am yesterday but we know the lorry was on the car park at the sen ices from about 9pm the night before when there were about 12 other lorries parked there Descriptions of gang members are limited to two white men and a black man itnesses who may have seen the dmer being dumped or who saw the vehicle in the Midlands were urged tocall police onOI244 613638 The theft of computer equipment has become an increasing problem with sophisticated gangs pulling aluable chips from inside units to sell on the black market or even removing whole systems In August last year counterfeit computer discs worth at least £1 million were seized following a raid at a market Bilston Wolverhampton after a three-month undercover operation And two months earlier it emerged the Forensic Science Laboratory in Birmingham had vital computer equipment stolen in two separate raids Across the country there were eight security breaches" at Gov ernment forensic science laboratories in two years In April 1995 police swooped on 22 homes in the West Midlands as part of a crackdown on computer crime to try to smash a multi-million pound racket Police end Jaguar link op rider killed in competition fall By PAUL ASTON The Birmingham Post A leading cross-country horse rider died yesterday after suffering fatal head injuries in a fall during a competition in the Scottish borders Mrs Polly Philhpps aged 30 was taking part in the Scottish Open Championships at Thirlestane Castle near Lauder when the accident happened She was on experienced international horse oral Cove and negotiated the first nine cross-country fences without any incident But onlookers said she took oft' too soon at the tenth The horse hit the fence hard and somersaulted to the ground landing on Mrs Philhpps who suffered fatal head injuries The horse was unhurt Technical delegate at the trials Mr John Tulloch said "Polly Philhpps was an international rider with a zest for life and lived for her sport This is a tragic accident" Mrs Philhpps who was based at Retnpstone near Loughborough in Leicestershire was a veterinary surgeon who set up her own equine practice in 1994 A brave and much admired crosscountry rider she had achieved great success during the past few seasons with the equally talented 1 1-year-old Coral Cove The pair competed with the British team at last year's World Equestrian Games in Rome where they finished seventh individually and led the squad to the bronze medal She was married to Leicestershire horse dealer Mr Vere Phillipps who originally discovered Coral Cove at Millstreet in Ireland when the horse was a six-year-old Mr Phillipps was back at Niillstreet looking for more oung horses at the time of his death A man was airlifted to Solly Oak Hospital Bmmngham yesterday after he was injured at a polo match The 23-year-old suffered head and shoulder injuries when he fell off his horse at The Royal Show Ground in Stoneleigh Warwickshire at 4pm He was unconscious after he fell and suffered tits said ambulance service spokesman $9 The Waterfront The West Midlands Premier Location Close to Bars Restaurants and Merry Hill Shopping Centre Offices TO LET 1600- 2200 sqft Feared and revered by every crook in Britain the last Jaguar thought to be patrolling the country 's motorways has been taken off the road in Staffordshire The I40mph XJ6 has clocked up nearly 200000 miles responding to emergencies and fighting crime on the M6 and M54 The Staffordshire force has replaced its tleet of Jaguars with Volvo T5s and Vauxhall Omegas which officers say are more suited to modem police work But the loss of the vehicle has saddened patrolmen who have been driving Jaguars throughout most of their careers have been associated with Jaguar for 30 years They have always been at the height of technical innovation and have given us the edge on the motorways" said Sgt John (ileave of the force's traffic division have been superbly reliable anil our association comes to an end with great regret" But patrol cars sometimes need to carry heavy firearms as well as more standard equipment such as cones emergency signs tools and first aid kits and officers say the Jaguar's load space was limited Jaguar accepts the XJ6 was too expensive for most police forces but believes its new £28000 S-type is ideal It is being heavily-marketed with police forces an Twickenham rout Font of all anger A freelance vicar came under fire from Church leaders after Christening a baby in a Staffordshire pub using a mobile font Nows Page 4 England romped to a 16-try victory over lowty USA but will gain scant reward in terms of their build-up to the World Cup battles to come Elsewhere Wales overcame Canada 33-19 but Scotland were beaten 22-31 by Argentina Silver shadow TV and Radio 2 Crossword Weather and On 16 Immediately Available trl! School petition Anti-grammar school campaigners hope to start a mass petition next month In the most significant move towards the abolition of selective education in Birmingham News Page 5 Farm shooting A farmer was being questioned by police last night after a suspected burglar was shot dead and another was seriously injured at his isolated Norfolk farmhouse News Page 7 IRA verdict Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam will pass verdict on the state of the IRA ceasefire within the next 'tna News Page 8 Wild at heart Andrew Cottar and Swede Jasper Psmevik were handed the wild card places in Ryder Cup team by captain Mark Jam Golf Pages 17 ft 27 High five for Monty Colin Montgomerie mastered Munich with a three stroke triumph in the BMW Invitational Open giving him his fifth triumph of the season Golf Page 27 not so ragged staff Warwickshire eased their relegation fears in the National League with a comprehensive victory over Essex last night Cricket Page 24 ISSN 03-715 34 Wolverhampton heptathlete Den lee Lewis had to settle tor the runners-up spot again after a controversial second day in the heat of Seville Meanwhile 21 -year-old Dwain Chambers the youngest man in the final won bronze in the 100m trailing Maurice Greene of the US and Bruny Surin of Canada Rugby Page 22 Breaking away Solihull is determined to leave Birmingham and Solihull TEC as the deadline draws near on a final decision Business Page 32 Pages 17 28 PTSE down 643 on week at 61808 DOW up 12696 on week at 1110061 770963 791 116 Li.